CAST: Liam Neeson (Dr. Martin Harris), Diane Kruger (Gina), January Jones (Elizabeth Harris), Aidan Quinn (Martin B), Bruno Ganz (Ernst Jurgen), Frank Langella (Rodney Cole); DIRECTOR: Jaume Collet-Serra; SCREENWRITER: Stephen Cornwell, Oliver Butcher; GENRE: Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense; DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures; LOCATION: Berlin, Germany; RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes
Technical Assessment: 3 ½ .
Moral Assessment: 2 ½ .
CINEMA Rating: Audience Age 18 and above
American botanist Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) flies to Berlin with his wife Elizabeth (January Jones) to speak at a biotechnology conference. Checking in at the hotel he misses his briefcase, rushes back to the airport in a cab to retrieve it and gets into an accident that causes brain trauma resulting in partial memory loss. After cab driver Gina (Diane Kruger) bravely saves him from death, the police take him to a hospital where he lies in coma for four days. He awakens, wonders why no one has looked for him, and recalls just enough to escape from the hospital and return to the hotel to find his wife he hopes will establish his identity. He finds her with a stranger (Aidan Quinn) who claims to be the real Martin Harris. Worse she denies knowing him and confirms that her husband Martin Harris is the man with her. It’s a mystery the bewildered Harris would give his all to solve, and he is helped by Gina and her friend Ernst Jurgen, a private investigator (Bruno Ganz) who used to work in the East German secret police.
Based on French writer Didier van Cauwelaert's novel, Unknown may keep you at your seat’s edge rooting for the accident victim—credit that to Neeson’s looks which seem to naturally evoke sympathy. But of course he’s an actor who feels his role to the bone, even if his character be in such an absurd situation as Harris. Good direction by Jaume Collet-Serra pulls together the pieces of this brain-teasing story into clarity, aided by the lead actors’ self-convinced portrayal of their roles. Ganz as the ex-spy, wizened and wise and blessed with a prickly humor by his Stasi past, lends depth—even heroism—to the plot. If it were up to us, Ganz should get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Action and violence abound as the audience is led further into the dark, until close to the end of the 115-minute thriller when the unknown becomes known.
Unknown seems to have been made just to puzzle the brain. Older generations would call it “mental calisthenics”, the younger ones would say it’s “mind f—k”. It may entertain many who like to solve riddles but it offers little ethical guidance for those expecting it. Its redemptive factor comes late in the movie when—the mystery having been demystified—a character tries to influence another towards a new life direction. Unknown, however, may arouse one’s curiosity regarding the killer-for-hire industry, to ask questions like: How deeply is a spy indoctrinated to prepare for his or her mission? How does the training impact his self-image? How much of his real self is lost in the process? Does this then still hold him morally culpable for the acts he is paid to commit? Is there another process by which the killer-for-hire is disengaged totally from his role upon the completion of his mission? You see, even movies that critics would judge unworthy may lead to profound thoughts a world in chaos needs today.
